Overview of Web Parts available in SharePoint Foundation 2010

Web Parts are one of the basic building blocks of pages on SharePoint sites. They enable you to customize a SharePoint page to display content or business data from many sources on the same page. You can also use Web Parts to display information from external sources, such as RSS feeds or news sites.

There are more than 15 Web Parts included with SharePoint Foundation 2010. You can also buy Web Parts from other companies, or, if you want to try your hand at writing code, you can develop your own.

This article describes the Web Parts that are available with SharePoint Foundation 2010. Its purpose is to help you decide which Web Parts you want to use to customize your SharePoint site.

Lists and Libraries

The Web Parts listed in this category are actually different forms of the List View Web Part. When the List View Web Part displays data from certain lists or libraries, it also takes the name of the list or library. In this way, the Announcements Web Part is actually a List View Web Part that displays a list of
announcements; a Calendar Web Part is a List View Web Part that displays a calendar, and so on.

You can add a List View Web Part for the same list to several different Web parts or pages. Each will show the same data (in your own customized view, if you wish), and changes made to the data in one place will appear in all of the other places.

Note: You will often hear the term, “List View Web Part,” but you will not find a Web Part by that name. A List View Web Part automatically takes the name of the list for which it displays data. Thus, the List View Web Part for a calendar list is called “Calendar.” Similarly, when you create a new list or library on your site, a List View Web Part of the same name as that list or library is automatically created for you. For example, if you create a list called Customers, a List View Web Part called Customers will be available in the Site Name Gallery. The Web Part automatically displays the data contained in the list or library that you created.

Web Parts in this category are intended primarily to facilitate collaboration and communication among team members. When you create a new team site, the home page for that team site automatically contains Announcements, Calendar, Links, and Site Image Web Parts. Because a team site also features a Shared Documents library, a Tasks list, and a Team Discussions list, you can also add Web Parts for these types of lists to the home page.

You can add Web Parts to other pages to show the contents of these lists. For example, if your group has several document workspace sites, you could add a Web Part that shows the same group calendar information on each site, so users don't have to click back to the home page to stay up-to-date.

Web Part

Purpose

Announcements

The Announcements list contains messages posted by contributors to the site (who have necessary permissions). Use the List View Web Part named Announcements to display and update these messages on a site.

Calendar

The Calendar list contains upcoming meetings, deadlines, and other important events. You can add a Calendar List View Web Part to various locations on a site to display and update the information on the calendar.

Links

The Links list contains links to Web pages that your team members will find interesting or useful. You can use the Links List View Web Part to display important or interesting links in different locations on your site.

Shared Documents

A unique Shared Documents library is standard on all team and document workspace sites. You can add the Shared Documents List View Web Part to pages that are subordinate to the site where the library originated, but not to other sites. Use the Shared Documents List View Web Part to provide quick access to team documents in different locations on the site.

Site Assets

This library stores files that are included on pages of the site, for example, images from Wiki pages.

Site Pages

This library stores pages on the site. You can use the Web Part to display links to all those pages from a single page of your site.

Tasks

The Tasks list is where team members can keep track of work that needs to be done. Add the Tasks List View Web Part to a page to view and update the list of tasks.

Team Discussion

The Team Discussion list contains newsgroup-style discussions among team members. Use the Team Discussion List View Web Part to display and add to the discussions.

Content Rollup

The Content Rollup Web Parts are useful for displaying dynamic content on a page.

Web Part

Purpose

Picture Library Slideshow

This Web Part displays the images from a Picture Library as a slide show, displaying one image at a time as it automatically rotates through the images in the Picture Library. You can use this Web Part to make all kinds of images available to users – photos from the last office party, artwork for new ads, renderings of architectural plans, etcetera. You can set up a central Picture Library at the top of the site collection and then have users link to it with the Picture Library Slideshow Web Part. When you add images to the Picture Library, they will be available to users and included in the slide show.

XML Viewer

Use this Web Part to display Extensible Markup Language (XML) and apply Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) to the XML before the content is displayed. You can use the XML Web Part to display structured data from database tables or queries, XML-based documents, or XML forms that combine structured and unstructured data, such as weekly status reports or travel expense reports.

Documents

There is only one Document Web Part. The Relevant Document Web Part displays a list of documents from all libraries in the current site that were created, last modified, or checked out (or all three) by the current user.

Forms

There is only one Form Web Part. The HTML Form Web Part enables you to connect simple form controls to other Web Parts.

Media and Content

The Media and Content Web Parts are useful for displaying text, images, and video on a page.

Web Part

Purpose

Content Editor

The Content Editor Web Part enables you to add formatted text, tables, hyperlinks, and images to a page. For example, you can use the Web Part to:

Add a formatted introductory paragraph to a page

Add a table of instructions to explain a chart on your page, the data that is used in the chart, and how the chart was created

Add a set of hyperlinks to more information

Image Viewer

The Image Web Part displays a picture or other image on the page.

Page Viewer

The Page Viewer Web Part displays Web pages, files, or folders on the page.

Note: Depending on the type of file you are displaying, the file may open in a separate browser window.

Silverlight Web Part

This Web Part enables you to make a Silverlight application available from a page on a SharePoint site.

Where can I find more Web Parts?

You are not limited to using only the Web Parts that come with SharePoint. You can create your own, or you can search for "SharePoint Web Parts" on the Internet and find numerous companies with Web Parts for sale.

You can also get Web Parts for free from CodePlex, the Microsoft community development Web site. People who like to develop software post their products there for anyone to download at no cost. If you find a Web Part on CodePlex that you would like to use, there are a few things to keep in mind:

While Microsoft supports and encourages open-source software development, it does not provide technical support for the software on CodePlex, nor does it guarantee that the software will work as described.

Developers who post software on CodePlex are encouraged to help users who have problems and questions, but the level of support may vary from one product to another. Do not expect real-time help.

Depending on your level of permission and technical skill, you may be able to install and use the Web Part yourself, or you may need to ask your SharePoint administrator for help.